


Overheat

by CuddlyHawk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday Party, Heat Stroke, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance (Voltron) Whump, M/M, Minor Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Misunderstandings, Pining Keith (Voltron), Seizures, heat exhaustion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-21 16:32:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11361276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuddlyHawk/pseuds/CuddlyHawk
Summary: It's just for an hour, Keith figures. Nothing bad will happen if he leaves Lance on an isolated planet while he goes back to the castle to start decorating, right...? Wrong. Neither of them realize just how hot that planet gets during the day, and Lance is about to get severely overheated.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [this fic idea](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/303774) by Taylor-Tut. 



"What was it you wanted to show me?" Lance asked, following Keith onto a semi-deserted planet. It looked as though the surface had been hit by some kind of asteroid and left only remains of trees and a strange terrain behind. But that was decades ago, if the thin sheet of grass covering the ground was anything to go by. The trees had new life growing out from their destroyed stumps. But there were no animals to be seen.

Keith led the way toward what used to be some kind of lake. It was all dried out but there was still a little foliage at the bottom. Just at the edge of the has-been lake, Lance leaned against a tree to peer down into the ditch. "Wow, it's kinda cool. But we travelled a whole galaxy away from the castle on our day off for some dried-out lake?" He turned an unamused expression to Keith.

Without saying anything, Keith whipped out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them to Lance's wrists and snapped them to the tree he was holding onto. A glowing blue chain zipped around the tree and connected Lance's two cuffs. He blinked and looked down, pulling experimentally. "Seriously? Again?" He asked in a whine. Keith chuckled.

"Don't worry you whiner. I'll be back in a little bit. Just uh, gonna get some food. Maybe go to the space mall again," he turned away from Lance to hide his smirk. No, what they were really planning was a surprise party for Lance. They had found out that his birthday was coming up at the end of July and needed to get him away from the castle so the others could decorate. Keith volunteered to distract Lance. But his idea of a 'distraction' was a bit restrictive. Keith didn't see anything wrong with it though. The planet was more or less cool, there was enough light to be able to see easily, and there was a nice breeze. Lance's oxygen wouldn't run out and he could survive for less than an hour if Keith were to go back and help decorate for a little while, then come back to get him. Lance would complain about it the entire ride back to the castle, but when he sees what a great job they'll do decorating, Keith knew he'd forget all about his anger.

Lance tugged more desperately on the handcuffs. "Keith, come on buddy! Don't leave me here! Who set you up to do this, huh? Was it Hunk? Did he dare you to do this and see how I'd react?" He started rambling, getting louder when he saw Keith start to walk back to his lion. They had carpooled in Red, so Keith didn't have to worry about trying to transport Blue away from the planet. "Wait! Don't leave me! Keith!" Lance pulled hard on his handcuffs, but Keith didn't respond and the cuffs didn't give way. Then Keith was getting into his lion and taking off.

Groaning, Lance slumped. So he was going to be there for a while, he figured. Whatever, it wasn't the end of the world. He just wished there were some kind of nature to watch. A bird or squirrel. He wished the lake was full of water and he could watch some fish.

He readjusted his position and settled onto his knees, hands to his face like he was praying. But he turned his face to the sky. It was a nice day on this planet! Nice and warm. After basking in the heat of the sun, Lance turned his eyes to the grass. It swayed ever so gently in the cool breeze. It didn't look exactly like normal grass, but it looked close enough to it. There was a white stripe down the center of the blades, and they were a lot softer than grass on earth. Almost mossy in texture. But they had the appearance of grass. It was mostly green and everything, which was rare, Lance had learned from their expeditions.

Lance shifted again, unsticking the back of his knees from his uniform and rolling his shoulders to try to loosen the fabric around his neck. A trickle of sweat beaded on his temple and tickled his neck. "Eugh, I'm sweating a lot," he realized. Turning his face upward again, he was surprised to see a very bright, very large sun much closer than it had been less than a minute ago. His eyes widened. "Oh quiznak…" he breathed. Shuffling, he tried to scoot to the other side of the tree he was tied to, but the cuffs wouldn't budge, keeping him on one side of the tree. "No no, come on!" He begged to no one, trying to see if he could break the cuffs or hack them off. But he wasn't a tech wizard like Pidge or Shiro, or strong like Hunk or Keith. No, he was stuck here until Keith came back to unlock him.

With every passing second, the sun grew hotter and hotter, brighter and whiter. Soon Lance was panting for breath, sweat making the inside of his suit damp and humid. It was getting hot, but heat wasn't something Lance wasn't used to. Back home, it would get up to the 100's on a particularly bad day. It was uncomfortable but it wasn't unbearable. He pulled on the memory of spending time with his younger siblings and cousins, playing in the sprinklers while his mom served them all ice-cold lemonade…

Just the thought of something cool on his throat made him feel better. But he was still sweating up a storm. He pressed his eyes closed, trying to ignore it. But it was getting very bright and he could see red behind his eyelids, like he was looking directly into the sun rather than down into the grass.

His skin started to burn and a part of him wondered if the paladin armor had SPF in it or if he'd be affected by the light. It definitely started to hurt, and Lance's breaths came in ragged gasps. It didn't help that the breeze had completely stopped.

"Hello?" He called into his comm, hoping Keith was still online. "Keith, do you come in? It's getting really hot out here, please man. Enough, come get me."

No answer.

"Keith, please! Come in, Mullet, get me out of this death trap!"

Still no answer.

Panic started to set in. Lance felt himself start to hyperventilate and he tried to scoot into his own shade. But the white stripe on the blades of grass reflected the sun right back up at him and made it nearly impossible to hide in shade. He whimpered, feeling his hands and feet getting clammy and wet. Sweat was dripping off his nose every few seconds, and his hair was soaked at this point.

Vaguely, Lance wondered how long the days on this planet were. He suddenly realized why there was no life other than the nature. They had been killed by the immense heat from the sun. The plants developed their white stripe to reflect the sun that way they wouldn't burn from the power. The planet hadn't created its protective ozone layer yet, but the plants were working on it. But Lance had the unlucky chance to be stuck there before it had its protective atmosphere.

His legs felt like jello and he felt so uncomfortable and wet just kneeling there in full blast of the sun's dangerous rays.

Suddenly, he felt the wetness start to evaporate. The inside of his suit was still slightly damp, but his skin wasn't making any more sweat. While he was relieved for a moment, a fresh wave of panic seized him. It wasn't getting any cooler, but he wasn't sweating? That's gotta be bad. Heat exhaustion? Something like that. His mind was too muddled and unfocused, he couldn't really assess his symptoms. But he knew that it was bad.

"Keith," he rasped through a dry mouth, feeling the world spinning around him. He pressed his eyes shut tight and felt himself gag as the dizziness only increased. When nothing came up, he continued in a strained voice, "Come on man, it's not funny anymore…"

Lance's mind fuzzed out completely and the overly bright light dimmed to a pinprick.

Then it went out.


	2. Chapter 2

Smiling to himself, Keith hurried back to the castle. When he walked in, Shiro gave him a strange look. "Where's Lance?" He asked. "I thought you were distracting him for us?"

Keith smirked. "Yeah, I'd say he's pretty distracted," he folded his arms. Shiro raised an unamused eyebrow and Keith clarified with a dismissive wave. "I just chained him to a tree like Nyma did. I'll go get him after we're done. The more hands we have helping, the better, right?" Shiro seemed reluctant, but eventually nodded. Keith hopped up onto a chair next to Allura's and started hanging up the streamers. Or…the Altean equivalent of streamers, with a bit of a human twist. Coran and Pidge were absent, having gone to the mall to get some balloons. Hunk was busy in the kitchen trying to bake a cake with limited resources. Shiro was using his cybernetic hand to slice up a large colored piece of tissue paper into small strips for Keith and Allura to hang up.

They continued working for a while. Hunk finished baking the cake and was starting to ice it when Coran and Pidge returned with levitating colored orbs that could pass as balloons if you didn't look too closely at them. Pidge started stationing them over everyone's seats at the table with Shiro's help, and Coran started making more Altean streamers for Keith and Allura.

Finally, it was more or less done. Just a few final touches. But the whole dining room looked like it was ready for a major party; balloons floated around the room, streamers hung cheerfully from the ceiling, there was a 'Happy Birthday' banner hanging on the wall, the smell of cake filled the room and Hunk's masterpiece sat as the table centerpiece. Overall, it looked pretty decent for the strange resources they had.

"I think we're ready for him!" Hunk announced, a proud look in his eyes. "Where was he again?"

Keith had already started to suit up once more, having taken off his armor while he was decorating. "Just a planet not too far from here. I pulled a Nyma on him and left. Thought he'd enjoy the reference." Everyone rolled their eyes at the mention of Nyma. Lance had a habit of getting himself into compromising positions fairly often, didn't he? Keith shrugged on the last of his armor and fastened his helmet to his head. "I'll go get him. We'll be back in less than ten minutes."

As he started flying back to the planet, he opened his communication link with Lance. "Hey Lance, miss me?" He asked snarkily. But there was no reply. Keith rolled his eyes, thinking Lance was just too angry to answer him. "Come on, don't be this way. Trust me, you'll like what we have planned for you." But there was still no answer. Keith frowned. "Lance?"

An alert startled him. Flashing on Red's screen were the words, 'WARNING: SYSTEM OVERHEATING' and he had to reread it a few times before it really clicked. System overheating? Sure, the sun was really bright, but— Oh god.

"Oh no, no no…" Keith swore darkly under his breath and pushed his lion toward the planet he had left Lance on. He thought it was far enough away from the sun that it wouldn't affect him. But apparently the orbit was more elliptical than he had thought, and now the sun was nearly right on top of it. And Lance didn't have a lion, just his jumpsuit and armor.

Keith landed the lion and tried to use his bio scanner to search for life. It was too bright to see clearly, with everything reflecting back up at him. The scanner wasn't working. He tried to reload it a few times, but it never finished scanning. The sun must have been overloading the scanner. Looks like he'd have to do this the long way. So he urged Red into a run, and together they searched for the blue paladin.

The search was in vain for a little while and Keith's anxiety was nearly bursting from his chest, but then Red sent a frantic alert to Keith, and when he looked where she was focusing on, he saw that there was a small splash of blue against the blinding white background. Without thinking twice, Keith unbuckled himself and leaped out of the cockpit and rushed to Lance, who was slumped to the side, hands still tied to the tree.

Keith released the handcuffs instantly and Lance fell into Keith's waiting arms. "Lance! Oh my god, Lance come on, wake up!" But Lance laid motionless and limp. Keith was about to rip off his helmet to see if he was breathing, but thought better of it when Red sent a rumble through his mind. Right, do this in the lion. He hooked his arms under Lance's knees and behind his back, hoisting him up bridal-style and rushing back to Red, who had her mouth open and ready for the two paladins.

She made a worried whine when she sensed that only one of her two passengers was awake, and immediately took off and started to fly back to the castle while Keith tended to Lance. He pulled off their helmets and put his ear down to Lance's mouth. A wave of relief washed over him when he felt a tiny, ragged puff of breath on his cheek. But his hand hovered over Lance's forehead. Heat radiated up through his glove and Keith's mouth pressed into a line.

Ripping off his gloves, Keith pressed his hand to Lance's forehead and recoiled like he'd been burned. Which he honestly thought had happened. He looked at his hand and saw no visible burns. But Lance's body was definitely overheating. Keith carded his fingers through Lance's hair to get it off his face, and was surprised to feel that his hair was stiff from moisture, but it felt completely dry to the touch. He had even stopped sweating. Keith was no stranger to heat. Living in the desert, he had had his full share of heat exhaustion and bouts of hyperthermia. He knew all about it. But he had never reached heat stroke status. But it seemed Lance had.

Quickly, Keith pulled Lance from his suit, laying him out on the cool metal of the floor of the lion. His mind was short-circuiting. What did he have that he could give Lance to help him feel better? Water? No, he only planned on being in the lion for a little bit. He didn't bring anything other than his armor. He had literally nothing to help Lance with.

Keith chewed on his lip and crawled up to Lance's head, supporting his upper body on his lap. He looked up to Red's view screen and squinted at it. "How much longer?" He growled in agitation. Red growled back and sent him a calming vibe shortly after. "We don't have a few more minutes, Red! Hurry! Full thrusters, Lance isn—!"

A sudden intense pressure on his lap made Keith look down. Lance's eyes were screwed shut and his back was arching, head trying to throw itself back but being blocked by Keith's support. Then his arms and shoulders tensed up and Lance began to convulse. Keith cried out, trying to keep Lance from bashing his head into the metal floor but not knowing what to do. Lance's jaw worked and then a bit of blood trickled down his cheek. Keith felt useless, supporting Lance's head on either side as the seizure continued. His hands ached from where they were touching Lance, his skin felt like it was on fire. But Keith held on until Lance was done, the jerking motions slowing down to nothing. Then he was limp again in Keith's lap, breaths labored and shallow and fast.

Keith just continued to hold onto Lance's head, heart racing as he tried to figure out what to do. There was still a bit of blood coming out of Lance's mouth, and his breathing sounded painful. Keith gently pushed Lance to his side in a recovery position and stood up on his knees to see how much longer. Thankfully, the hangar door was open and Red was flying in. Thank god, Keith would be getting help soon.

He looked down to Lance and saw a small puddle of blood and foamy spit pooling at his mouth. Keith was about to lay him on his back again, but heard Lance breathing just the tiniest bit easier. He also felt like it was good that whatever was in his mouth was coming out, so he kept him on his side and just rubbed circles on his back to soothe him, trying to ignore the heat radiating off him. "Hang in there Lance, help is on the way."

On cue, the door to Red opened and the others rushed in with Shiro in the lead. "Keith, what's going on? You didn't answer us when we tried asking where you were, and— Good god, what happened?"

Keith gathered Lance in his arms again and stood, looking remorsefully at his team. "I-I didn't realize the planet got so hot during the day. He's got heat stroke, we have to get him in a healing pod NOW!" Hunk ran forward without asking any questions and took Lance from Keith, rushing him to the infirmary.

Shiro watched as Pidge ran with Hunk, then placed a reassuring hand on Keith's shoulder. "It's alright, don't worry. He's going to be fine. He's been through worse."

"But it's my fault… This was supposed to be a fun day for him. Not for him to get heat stroke, of all things…"

"Maybe, but I know he won't blame you. He'll understand that it came from a good place. And when he sees what we're doing for him, he'll be back to his normal self. You'll see."

Keith sighed, slumping to the ground and gripping his head in his hands. "I really hope so…"

Shiro squeezed Keith's shoulder, but then frowned, raising his human hand up to Keith's forehead. "I think you've got a bit of heat exhaustion yourself, Keith." He said worriedly. Keith was about to argue, but felt a wave of nausea rise up and send a full headache bursting through his head. He winced.

"Maybe you're right." Keith leaned on Shiro, who helped him to the pods. While he just had one arm around Shiro at first, with every step he grew more and more exhausted and his brain became slower and slower and he had to use both hands to steady himself on Shiro's arm.

But eventually they made it to the infirmary. Just before he climbed into his own pod, Keith caught eye of Lance's pod through the small crowd that had formed. Lance's temperature was 105.7 and he looked very flushed and tired. But at least he was in a pod and he was healing. Keith slumped into his pod and started to relax.

They'd both get better.

And then they'd have Lance's party.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Keith leaves Lance handcuffed to a thing on a planet again, as a practical joke. What he didn’t know is that it was nighttime on the surface of the planet, and the sun was rising, and it’s about to get HOT. While he only leaves Lance there for about half an hour, it’s enough for him to come back to a nearly passed out, super dehydrated, boiling hot blue paladin.


End file.
